Hyde5: Where does Dolphins coaching job rank? Uh ...

Sun Sentinel's Omar Kelly and Dave Hyde discuss what the Miami Dolphins need to fix to get off the 'mediocrity merry-go-round.'

There are eight coaching openings in the NFL, and it’s sobering to note where the Miami Dolphins’ job ranks among them.

It’s also important to note, considering what you should brace for over the next season or two as they rebuild in a manner they haven’t since Steve Ross bought the team after the 2008 season. I understand the rebuild. I agree it’s smart to take a step back and realize you can’t fill all the holes in an offseason (or probably two). But that comes with some reality checks and one is with cleaning up the salary cap and finding a quarterback — and a lot of losing coming up that makes the coaching job a comparatively unattractive one.

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So with that in mind here’s how I rank the eight coaches openings in the league for how they look over the common coaching half-life of three years:

1. Cleveland. The best job out there. You’ve got a quarterback in Baker Mayfield to build. You’ve got young talent on defense at the impact positions. The Browns are on the cusp of something good but haven’t had as much as a winning season in years (7-8-1 this year), meaning you have a chance to be hailed as really smart. Who would have thought Cleveland is the best place to go?

3. Tampa Bay: Back-to-back 11-loss seasons and an uncertain Jameis Winston are issues. But they’ve got a great receiving corps, a decent offensive line and a great defensive line to serve as foundations for a quick turnaround. Your owner isn’t patient — he’s fired Super Bowl coaches Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden. But if you can get Winston trending back up and make a few offseason moves, there are enough pieces here to be a playoff team.

4. Denver: You have two great pass rushers in Von Miller and Bradley Chubb to be the foundation of a team. The rest is a mess, and you’re in the conference with the Chargers and Chiefs. But that’s why the job is open. The idea should be to become a defensive-minded, ball-control team like the Ravens, if John Elway can bring himself to do that.

5. New York Jets: What do you think of Sam Darnold? If you like him as your quarterback, this is a nice job. The Jets have the third overall pick, the most salary-cap money to spend of any team and play in the division of the Dolphins, the Bills and a Patriots team that is on its last legs (well, it is at some point anyway).

6. Arizona. They went 3-13 this year. They’re in the NFC West with the Los Angeles Rams, rebuilt Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, who went 4-12 this year without quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. But you have the No. 1 pick in the draft to either trade down and gather more picks or take Nick Bosa to anchor a defense. This job comes down to what you think of quarterback Josh Rosen. It’s interesting Adam Gase is interviewing with the Cardinals on Wednesday. The Dolphins didn’t want Rosen, just as they didn’t want to trade up for Allen. That’s why they didn’t trade with Oakland for the 10th pick last year and watched the Cardinals move up from 15th to take him. (Look, as I’ve said before, if the Dolphins really wanted Rosen they could have got the Oakland pick to take him. Oakland would rather have traded with the Dolphins at No. 11 than Arizona at No. 15).

7. Cincinnati: This is close to a toss-up to Arizona, above it, and the Dolphins below it. The Bengals aren’t good. They have an owner in Mike Brown who doesn’t even fund a real scouting department. But they have an average NFL quarterback in Andy Dalton, a great receiver in A.J. Green, enough talent at other playmaking positions and enough talent on the defense to be a .500 team – or better, if breaks go your way. The selling point here: You won’t be awful.

8. Dolphins: You’re in a full rebuild. “Full,” in this case, means you not only don’t have a quarterback, but don’t have an obvious path to get one. And you have a rookie in Chris Grier heading the show, which is good or bad. Maybe both. The Dolphins have been been mediocre for a decade; they’re the only team to bounce between 6 and 10 wins in the past 11 seasons. Next year they won’t hit six wins. They might not even have their quarterback of the future, considering 2020 is the quarterback draft. Look at the Bills and Jets — you’re probably two years behind their rebuilds. How much suffering can you take in the hopes of being good?

2. My thought on the coaching job: The “quarterback whisperer” thought is overrated. That’s the hot thing in the league, just as it was with the Dolphins hiring Adam Gase. But as I wrote above, the values you need as a head coach aren’t often developed in the young, quarterback-centric coach just yet: Leadership, big-picture views, speaking as the voice of the franchise … The top choice for me would be Bruce Arians, if he’s healthy. Why would he want the job? He probably wouldn’t. But he is a proven NFL coach who is a strong leader and knows offense and the quarterback position. Just knowing quarterbacks isn’t enough.

3. Speaking of jobs, the offensive coordinator opening at the University of Miami isn’t the job people want it to be. No certain quarterback. Uncertain playmaking talent, considering the top receiver this year, Jeff Thomas, transferred and the top running back, Travis Homer, declared for the NFL. The line isn’t settled. The demands are high. The new coach, Manny Diaz, will have a learning curve. Again, it’s important to know what you’re stepping into.

4. Ohio State quarterback Dwayne Haskins says he’s “50-50” to come out for the draft. The working idea is he will come out, considering he probably would be the No. 1 pick overall in a trade with Arizona (if they don’t take him). If not, he goes back in the draft pool and 2020 becomes an even richer quarterback draft: Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa, Oregon’s Justin Herbert, Georgia’s Jake Fromm and possibly Haskins.

5. The only rookie quarterback to make the playoffs? My man, Lamar Jackson. The Dolphins didn’t like him at all last year. He’s not a finished project. He has to learn to pass. And he can’t make a career of running as much as he has this year. But he’s 5-1 as a starter. He’s in the playoffs. He’d have given them some future hope if they traded up to No. 32 like Baltimore to grab him.